Most BioWare fans will agree that the last few years have been far from the company’s greatest. While they eagerly await Dragon Age 4, just as many have long since moved on from its last game, the tepidly-received Anthem. Now, to add insult to injury, BioWare was completely missing from parent company EA’s latest investor call.
While EA has a reputation among many gamers as one of the least popular publishers out there, it still makes a huge amount of money. During its investor call, it highlighted this fact, revealing that it generated $1.59 billion in revenue during its most recent fiscal quarter (October 2019 to December 2019). This was credited to the release of new games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Need for Speed Heat, and Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville, as well as the continuing popularity of Apex Legends, FIFA, and other consistent IPs.
Strangely, though, no mention was made of Anthem. While that might not seem weird at first, especially given that this isn't the first time EA has largely ignored the game at such an event, it's still worth noting that Anthem was also one of 2019’s best-sellers. Perhaps EA simply didn’t want to remind anyone of a game that attracted a lot of bad press summing it up as one of the biggest letdowns of last year, but it’s still an odd move to ignore the positives that came out of it too.
The lack of BioWare becomes even more noticeable when it comes to EA’s plans for the future. The earnings report mentions future titles like the next-gen Battlefield 6, FIFA 22, and Madden 22, but no update was given on Dragon Age 4, a game we know is in the works and that BioWare has been teasing fans with for a while.
And it’s not like BioWare has nothing else in development, if other rumors are to be believed. The last few weeks have seen reports claiming that the company is at work on reviving some of its classic titles, with a remaster of the original Mass Effect and a remake/possible reboot of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Not only that, reports in recent months state that BioWare may even be busy with a brand new Mass Effect game and a major overhaul for Anthem as well.
It is possible, of course, that all of these are too early in development for EA and BioWare to begin hyping, but it nevertheless seems strange that EA would avoid sharing any new information about the future of BioWare, still one of its most highly-acclaimed studios in spite of games like Anthem and Mass Effect Andromeda. With any luck, though, that’s something that EA’s next earnings report will address for fans eager to hear anything official about Dragon Age 4, Anthem, or BioWare’s other current projects.
Dragon Age 4 is in development for unknown platforms. Anthem is available for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Electronic Arts